PM is in diplomatically precarious position of declining to endorse US strikes while also refusing to condemn them
US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates
It was perhaps naive for No 10 ever to position Keir Starmer as a “Donald Trump whisperer” capable of persuading the unpredictable US president to step back from reckless decisions.
The “special relationship” has been under severe strain in recent months over the UK’s decision to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, and the refusal of European countries to back Trump’s play for Greenland.
And when it came to bombing Iran and assassinating its leader, Starmer appears to have had little influence on Trump, who went ahead regardless of the UK’s refusal to let the US use its military bases.
